Seasonal stylings that are evergreen
LATE on the night after Halloween -- 54 days before Christmas -- workers pushing hand dollies careened through a big-box retailer near you. Armed with pocket tools and dossiers detailing exactly where to put which piece of merchandise, they wheeled to a stop in a big corner near housewares and spent the night shift mounting displays for American society’s greatest single expo of waste.
By sunrise the following day, “pre-lit” artificial trees, whose boughs had been assembled on a metal trunk like Tinker Toys, were reflected in the cellophane windows of the packaging for outdoor lights. Nutcracker statues, the bearded darlings of holiday hoarders, stared across the aisle at animated angel figurines. Tabletop reindeer pulling sleighs and glittered snowmen bound for front lawns led the way to stocking hangers spelling out NOEL or, for the ever-shrinking American family, JOY.
If the pursuit of happiness through home decor peaks at this time of year, so does the backlash. Enough. That’s the mantra of many Americans -- about 60 million people, according to the Natural Marketing Institute -- who claim that they shop with planetary health in mind. Taking a load off the landfills and power grid is relatively easy for eco-thinkers: Recycle the farm-grown tree as mulch and use low-wattage lights.
The trick is coming up with fresh ideas for decorating “green.” Pine cone-studded swags go only so far. Granny Smiths or pomegranates bobbing in a clear bowl of water make for a stunning centerpiece, but then what? Even at the green-built Idea House, a model of sustainable architecture and earth-friendly products near the grounds of Sunset magazine’s headquarters in Menlo Park, south of San Francisco, a simple vision emerged last month. “We might put up a wreath,” said a spokeswoman for the showcase home.
A solitary wreath respects the minimalist leitmotif of the green movement. These days, though, the philosophy’s many splinter groups are interpreting the spare aesthetic differently.
Urged on by high-end eco lifestyle magazines and shopping venues, people with the means to drive Priuses have lately distanced themselves from the so-called hippie-dippy crowd who retrofit grocery bags into gift wrap. Or string Hershey’s Kisses kibble (wherein children, working for chocolate, roll empty foils into pellets) into garlands for the tree, an idea that circulated recently on one of the many online forums for avid recyclers.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Bonnie Dahan believes in recycling too, but not at the expense of style. When she and her partners launched the catalog and online retailer VivaTerra in San Rafael, Calif., almost a year ago, they sought to fill a void in the marketplace by carefully screening their prospective wares for sustainability -- in nature and in the home.
The Japanese furoshiki, or handkerchief, makes Dahan’s cut for the holidays, she said, because the dupioni silk wrapping will swaddle a gift and stick around for other uses. It would work beautifully as a sleek skirt for an indoor “tree” such as the rosemary topiary she sells in a red box.
Also among Dahan’s picks are the discarded root ball of a fast-growing Chinese fir tree and a branch. The first is transformed by artisans into a vessel, to cradle organic pears perhaps, and the second into a display rack. Mounted in a dark hardwood block to create an airy vertical centerpiece, the antler-shaped manzanita might drip with agate ornaments of purple, turquoise, orange and green, or with teardrop crystals.
Why all the roughage? The bohemian bourgeoisie insists on home accessories that will give and give. “Everything can be reused beyond the season,” Dahan said. Once it is retired as a centerpiece, for example, the branch moves upstairs to the dressing area, sits on the vanity and holds necklaces before returning to the table for another occasion. In spring, the fir root bowl might clutch glass eggs nesting in a layer of moss.
Organic things may not come wired to ironically chime “Silent Night” or to blink on and off, but audiovisual devices usually don’t smell nice. Nothing evokes the memory of a celebration better than scent. And because happy fragrances can be particularly elusive amid the brittle flora and freeways of the Los Angeles basin, Southern Californians have learned to hang a fresh garland or wreath -- eucalyptus and pepperberry, to name two favorites this season at Smith & Hawken -- indoors as well as outdoors. As an alternative to traditional greenery, Dahan advocates vetiver, a wild grass with a woody scent. When embedded in a ball of colorful fiber and collected in a grapevine basket or scattered across the mantel, the plant’s aromatic root clump looks as good as it smells.
It will come as a huge relief to many, this being the season to promote peace, that the green community has largely settled its great debate, artificial versus real, over the Christmas tree. Although proponents of plastic argue that one fake fir can save dozens of real ones from the chain saw, their ecologically defensible argument falters with the growing popularity of flamboyant specimens such as the White Cashmere, described as “not for the faint of decor” at www.frontgate.com.
Tastes in trees change as often as they do in, say, appliances. In less than 10 years, the albino’s gangly limbs likely will be strewn across a dump along with the stainless steel microwave, seagulls circling. They will emit scary gases and biodegrade in a century or two. Harvested trees, meanwhile, will sustain farms, generate oxygen and prevent erosion for as long as they live. If they’re recycled postmortem in January through a solid waste program, their wood chips will return to the earth atop hiking trails and gardens.
Waste reduction is a core mission at the California Lighting Technology Center at UC Davis, the outfit that provided technical guidance on the state’s new Title 24 energy code for new construction. The professors there are fixated on energy efficiency. To see residential streets aglow, eaves slobbering with power-hungry incandescent bulbs, must make them cringe.
“Let’s just say I think there are ways to embrace light wisely,” said center director Michael Siminovitch. For starters, homeowners can chill for a few more weeks before untangling their extension cords because, relax, “Santa don’t come till the 24th,” he said.
They can also use timers and select from an unprecedented array of LED (light-emitting diode) products, which in a typical holiday strand offer a 75% energy savings over traditional incandescent. Critics say that LEDs also pale next to the candle-like incandescent versions. But the truth is, Siminovitch said, they’re similar in brightness and sparkle. “We have a huge affinity for sparkle,” he said, “Crystals. Diamonds ... “
And, maybe, the tiny disco balls of a Hershey’s Kisses garland.
Pamm Higgins can be reached at home@latimes.com.
